


Let's Take It Back to the Start

by Cocopops1995



Series: Are We All Lost Stars (Shiro Week 2017) [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Past and Present, Twins, and wants to hurt those who hurt him, blackpaladinweek, ryou just really loves his brother, shiroweek2017, twinganes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 20:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12778677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocopops1995/pseuds/Cocopops1995
Summary: Ryou has always known how to wait for Shiro to talk to him. Despite everything he's relieved to learn that some things never change.





	Let's Take It Back to the Start

_Ten_

The moment Taka stepped onto the porch, Ryou knew that something was wrong. Taka had been at an after school debate club, something Ryou didn’t have enough interest in to join, and walked home from there. Ryou had offered to wait for him, but Taka had assured him that he’d be fine. But just looking at his brother’s posture alone, Ryou could tell that he should have waited regardless. Something had happened. Taka was hurting and upset, and Ryou hadn’t been there to help him, or prevent whatever had happened. The thought made Ryou mad.

He could also tell that Taka didn’t want to talk about whatever had happened yet. It was one of the ways that they differed from one another. Neither of them liked to tell others about their problems, but where all Taka had to do was ask Ryou what was bothering him, and Ryou would immediately start telling him, Taka was a different story. Often times, Ryou would have to wait until Taka was ready to talk about it. The longer he had to wait, the more Taka was bothered by it.

So Ryou didn’t push Taka. He pulled him into a tight hug, silently assuring his brother that he would be there for him when Taka was ready to talk. When they pulled apart, Ryou started telling Taka about the new gadget he’d been working on, content to distract Taka from whatever was wrong until he was ready to talk.

_Twenty-Five_

It doesn’t take Ryou long to realise that Taka is trying to hide the metal arm from him. Ryou frowns at how Taka keeps positioning himself to try and block Ryou’s view. The movements tell Ryou a few things. Taka isn’t comfortable with the arm - he doesn’t like it. And it had been forced on him. The very idea that Taka had something so foreign forced on him is enough to make Ryou’s blood boil. He wants to find out who did it and where he can find them so he can give them a reason to have a robotic arm forced on them.

But the fact that Taka is trying to hide it also tells Ryou that Taka doesn’t want to talk about it yet. Ryou hides a wry smile, somethings never change no matter what happens. He’ll still have to wait Taka out before he’s ready to talk. But, for now, that’s okay. Ryou has his own story of space travel to distract Taka with (although he’s not quite sure if he himself is ready to talk about all of it yet). Ryou pulls Taka into another hug, he can’t seem to get enough of just hugging his brother close right now, to let Taka know that he’ll be there for him when he’s ready to talk. And Ryou distracts Taka by telling Taka about how he’d snuck into the Galaxy Garrison and stolen an alien spaceship.

_Ten_

It took longer than Ryou thought it would. Taka didn’t say anything about what was bothering him. He even went to sleep without telling Ryou about it, which was almost unprecedented. The last time Taka had taken more than a day to talk to Ryou about something like this had been when that one bully had broken Taka’s favourite model airplane (Taka had taken it to school for show and tell). Ryou had taken that bully’s bicycle apart the next day and had kept all the nuts and bolts necessary to put it back together again to build Taka a new model airplane.

So by the time they went to bed that night, Ryou was pretty sure that it must have been a bully again, and he started plotting revenge as he fell asleep.

Another way that Taka differed from Ryou was when it came to sleeping. Where Ryou was a quiet sleeper who woke up in the same position he fell asleep in, Taka was the opposite. It wasn’t uncommon for Taka to speak in his sleep and toss around. Their parents always marvelled at how different the two were when they slept from how they were when they were awake.

But they were both very aware of each other when they slept. If Ryou so much as whispered in his sleep, Taka would wake immediately, ready to wake his brother from whatever nightmare he might be having. The same was true of Ryou. If Taka’s sleep talking raised from its usual volume, even if just by a little bit, Ryou woke immediately ready to help.

Which is why as soon as Taka’s quiet murmurs turned to pained whines, Ryou’s eyes shot open. He was at his brother’s side in moments, shaking Taka awake from what he knew was a nightmare.

Taka woke with a start, and sat up immediately, breathing hard. Ryou curled up on Taka’s bed and waited. As soon as Taka’s breathing had calmed, the words started spilling out of him. By the end of the story, Ryou had his arms wrapped around his brother, and they fell asleep in each other’s arms as Ryou adjusted his plans to suit the particular set of bullies that had shoved his brother around the previous day.

_Twenty-Five_

It takes less time than Ryou expects. For something as bad as having a cybernetic arm forced on him, Ryou thinks he’ll have to wait days, maybe even weeks, before Taka is ready to talk to him about it.

But that night, before Ryou can even fall into his own nightmares, Taka’s sleeping murmurs morph into screams of pure agony.

The sudden sound of it is so unexpected that, for the slightest of moments, Ryou thinks he’s back in the arena, listening to the screams of the injured as they’re dragged from the arena to be punished for losing and having the audacity to survive. But the moment passes quickly, and he comes back to the reality of his brother screaming in his sleep.

He has never experienced Taka having such a bad nightmare before, and hearing Taka scream in that way stabs through Ryou’s heart like a burning hot knife. He wastes no time in getting to Taka’s side to wake him from the nightmare. He has to dodge a blow from the cybernetic arm, which is actually glowing purple now (he expects the blow from years of practice, but not the purple glow) and it takes Taka a good few moments to come fully out of whatever horror he’d been facing.

Ryou sees the moment Taka really realises where he is, and it’s as if Ryou’s presence there is the last straw. Taka slumps forward, buries his head in his hands and breaks down. Ryou moves instantly, pulling Taka into his arms and holding him close. He holds Taka until the crying stops, and then keeps on holding Taka - he’s not letting go of his brother. Not until Taka wants to be let go.

And then slowly, unexpectedly, words start spilling from Taka’s mouth. Ryou’s sure that it’s the first time Taka has really spoken to anyone about what happened to him. As the story of how Taka had been captured and forced to fight in the Galra’s arena, how he’d become the Champion (suddenly Ryou understands why those who had captured him had thought he was their Champion - and it turns out the Champion wasn’t even theirs.) Taka explains that he doesn’t remember exactly how he lost the arm, but when he doesn’t dream of faceless aliens he’d killed in the arena, his dreams are of torture and pain.

The more Taka talks, the more Ryou feels the rage building in his chest. The more he wants to find every Galra responsible for all the pain his brother had suffered, and rip them apart with his bare hands. But Taka doesn’t need him to be angry right now, so he pushes it down. Right now, Taka needs his brother. He needs support and comfort and understanding. And Ryou can and will give that to him to the best of his ability. So he keeps continues to hold Taka, murmur comforting words into Taka’s ear.

Eventually they both fall asleep again. Ryou never lets go. And for the rest of the night they both dream of nights spent together, staring up at the stars and planning all the adventures they would have together when they grew up.

**Author's Note:**

> Like my work? Please consider [buying me a coffee](https://ko-fi.com/W7W3KRCZ) :)


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